| St. John's running back Sam Sura chats with D3football.com after the Johnnies' victory. |
Junior running back Sam Sura rushed 36 times for 210 yards and the visiting Johnnies had no turnovers and few errors en route to a 24-14 MIAC football win over No. 10-ranked St. Thomas before a UST stadium record crowd in St. Paul.
St. John's (3-1 overall, 1-1 MIAC) never trailed and helped pressure the Tommies (2-1, 0-1) into four fourth-quarter turnovers.
Johnnie senior LB Matt Workman had a forced fumble and three sacks to lead as his defense limited the Toms to just one score -- a late third-quarter touchdown -- on their last 10 possessions of the game. The Johnnies also reduced big-play chances as they allowed only one rush or reception gain over 21 yards, and none more than 30 yards
"Hats off to St. John's," said UST coach Glenn Caruso. "They had a good game plan and they executed it. They executed better and made a couple of big plays when they needed them. Hats off to them for not turning it over."
Alexi Johnson drilled a 38-yard field goal in the final quarter to put the Johnnies ahead by 10 points. He also made all three PAT kicks.
A warm, sun-splashed day and the 83rd football meeting of two Minnesota Catholic institutions helped produce a crowd of 12,483 at O'Shaughnessy Stadium. That eclipsed the old UST stadium record of 10,800 set in 2013 when the Johnnies posted a 20-18 win.
St. John's has had just one turnover in eight quarters at O'Shaughnessy over the last two seasons, helping secure both victories over top-10 ranked St. Thomas teams.
Sura gave the Johnnies their first 100-yard rusher against St. Thomas since 2009. His 44-yard TD run early in the second quarter put SJU ahead to stay.
Junior QB Nick Martin, who missed last week's loss to Concordia-Moorhead while recovering from a concussion, guided four scoring drives on the day. He completed 11-of-16 passes for 162 yards with touchdown throws of 23 and 32 yards. Josh Bungum made a diving end zone catch of a 23-yard pass in the first quarter and closed the day with six catches for 61 yards.
The Tommies had turnovers end all four of their fourth-quarter possessions, all four as they were trying to erase a seven- or 10-point deficit:
- A pass tipped by SJU lineman Brady Tetzloff was intercepted by teammate Randy Perez and returned to the UST 42-yard-line;
- a tackle and forced fumble by SJU's Jeremy Piper on a catch and run by Nick Waldvogel was pounced on by the visitors' Garrett Ackerman at the Johnnies 23-yard line;
- a sack and fumble caused by Workman was recovered by teammate Ryan Michaelis at the SJU 42;
- and a desperation heave to the end zone in the final 30 seconds was picked in the end zone by Ackerman.
After rolling 62 yards on eight plays to a TD on their first possession of the game, the Tommies had the ball five more times inside the SJU 30-yard line but came away with just seven points.
In the second quarter, they missed a 44-yard field goal and also had a fake out of kick formation stopped on fourth-and-six at the SJU 25. In the third quarter, UST was unable to convert on fourth-and-six from the Johnnie 21.
UST had nine penalties for 80 yards. That category and the late turnovers negated some bright spots on the overall statistical sheet. St. Thomas punted only twice on the day and converted 8-of-16 on third and fourth downs. It rolled up 440 yards of offense to SJU's 379, led by Jack Kaiser's 74 rushing yards on 10 carries. John Gould, who was inserted at QB midway through the third period, had 182 passing yards (12-20-2), and guided an 11-play, 71-yard scoring drive.
"That was absolutely not what I expected to see out of our guys today," Caruso said. "The only positive thing as we look to our next game is that we have a bunch of competitive guys and they know we played horrendous at times today."
Tim McClanahan and Sam Pokornowski were each in on 12 tackles for the Tommies.
This marked time in 63 regular-season games under Caruso that St. Thomas never led after halftime of a game (second-half or overtime lead).
Next Saturday, St. John's returns home to face Hamline. The Tommies make their first road trip of the season as they play at St. Olaf.